Today in the MHSAA: 5/11/18
May 11, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Each weekday of the school year, we break down the top headlines courtesy of Michigan’s sports media.
1. Girls Tennis: Midland Dow, the top-ranked team in Lower Peninsula Division 1, swept every flight to claim a 21st straight Saginaw Valley League championship – Midland Dow
2. Girls Soccer: Division 1 No. 15 Plymouth dealt No. 3 Brighton its first loss of the season, 1-0 – Livingston Daily Press & Argus
3. Baseball: Division 1 No. 3 Rockford came back from being swept by No. 6 Grandville on Tuesday to win their third game against each other this week and pull within a game of the Bulldogs’ league lead – FOX 17
4. Girls Tennis: LPD2 No. 7 Traverse City Central locked up its seventh straight Big North Conference championship – Traverse City Record-Eagle
5. Baseball: Unranked Saginaw Heritage won the opener 1-0, but Division 1 No. 2 Bay City Western won the second game 3-0 in a matchup of Saginaw Valley League contenders – Bay City Times
6. Softball: Ubly swept Harbor Beach to earn a share of the Greater Thumb Conference East title – Huron Daily Tribune
7. Baseball: Tucker Zacharda’s walk-off sacrifice fly earned Holton an 8-7 win over White Cloud and coach Jim Giddings his 300th career victory – Local Sports Journal
8. Track & Field: Rapid River’s boys won their 41st annual home invitational by two points, while Felch North Dickinson repeated as the girls champion – Escanaba Daily Press
9. Golf: The Escanaba girls and Gladstone boys claimed Escanaba Invitational titles, the Braves shooting a 311 and Paxton Johnson finishing as girls medalist at 77 – Escanaba Daily Press
10. Football: Former Grand Ledge standout and Homer coach Joe Brya has been hired to take over Eaton Rapids – Lansing State Journal
Also of note …
Boys Basketball: Frankfort coach Reggie Manville will not return next season after leading the team to a 129-41 record over the last seven – MI Sports Now
Baseball: Ada Forest Hills Eastern coach Ian Hearn was honored Thursday for winning his 500th career game a week ago – Grand Rapids Press
Today in the MHSAA: 8/24/15
August 24, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
All MHSAA fall sports but football kicked off competition last week, with cross country, boys soccer, girls swimming and diving and volleyball starting Saturday.
Below are some notable headlines from the first weekend of this season, plus links to coverage.
Cross Country
St. Johns hosted its second “Under the Lights” meets Friday; Ithaca’s girls and Saugatuck’s boys bested fields loaded with much larger opponents – Lansing State Journal
The St. Joseph girls and Bridgman boys won championships at the Niles Stampede – the St. Joseph girls, who finished fourth in Lower Peninsula Division 2 last season, by a large margin – St. Joseph Herald-Palladium
Girls Golf
Maple City Glen Lake’s Nichole Cox, last season’s LP Division 4 individual champion, came back to defeat Brighton freshman Annie Pietila at the two-day Lober Invitational at Grand Traverse Resort – Traverse City Record-Eagle
Boys Soccer
Two of the state’s powers met in the championship game of the Detroit Country Day Tournament on Saturday – with 2013 Division 1 runner-up Bloomfield Hills downing the host Yellowjackets 1-0 in a shootout – Oakland Press
Girls Swimming & Diving
Howell won its Kenzie Klassic, which honors swimmer Mackenize Watts, who died in 2005 at age 15. The school also raised enough money to award three scholarships and begin funding cardiac-related causes – Livingston Daily
Volleyball
Novi won the Lakeshore Classic by coming back after losing the first two games to beat Grand Haven 3-2 in a rematch of a 2014 Class A Semifinal – Muskegon Chronicle
Battle Creek Harper Creek, for the first time, won the gold championship at the long-running Carrie Adams Memorial Tournament hosted by reigning Class D champion Battle Creek St. Philip – Battle Creek Enquirer
Good Read
Mike Steele, a Midland Dow grad and now pitching coach at Long Beach State in California, argues that parents need to raise their athletes to compete instead of providing specific training in one sport – Midland Daily News